Posts Tagged fish
Mizuna Salad with Fish and Mango
Posted by castironidaho in Farm and Garden, Recipes on May 29, 2011
Spring is here! And so are the greens from the garden. If you’re a regular reader, you’re probably starting to catch on that I make a lot of salad with fish on it. It’s a quick and delicious dinner, especially when greens are plentiful.
Everybody’s eaten lettuce and spinach, but maybe if you’re in a CSA this year, especially City Gardens CSA, you’re seeing some more unusual greens. Here in Idaho, a number of delicious cold-weather-loving greens are available only in the spring. Mizuna is one of those! Mizuna is a mustard green with a very mild flavor, not bitter like some other mustards. To grow mizuna, you should direct seed it in very early spring, in mid March. Mizuna will bolt as soon as it gets hot, so you can plant it in a partially shaded area of the garden. The bugs also love it, so we cover ours with row cover to keep them off, and can help keep it from bolting, too.
You can mix it with other salad greens, and the pointy leaves will make your mix really attractive, or make your whole salad from mizuna, as we have here. Don’t cut the white stems off though, those are the crunchiest and most flavorful part.
Ingredients:
- Nest of Mizuna or other salad greens
- Sole or other white fish
- Dusting of flour
Mango dressing:
- One mango
- One small onion
- Handful of Cilantro
- Handful of Basil leaves if you have them
- Juice of 2 limes
- Splash of rice vinegar
- Salt and pepper
To make the dressing, chop mango, onion, and herbs. Squeeze 2 limes over the mixture and mix, add rice vinegar to get the desired amount of liquid in your dressing. Season with salt and pepper. You could really use any chunky dressing, or substitute another fruit for the mangos, maybe strawberries if you want something in season.
Arrange a bed of mizuna on a plate. Drag the sole fillet through flour and pan fry in butter. It doesn’t take long at all to cook, as sole is very thin. You could use other fish, we’ve also used trout. Top with dressing and serve.
-Katie
Fish with Sorrel Cream Sauce
Posted by castironidaho in Farm and Garden, Recipes on April 27, 2011
Sorrel is one of the first spring greens to appear in the garden! I have a wonderful little herb bed right outside my front door. Which is where the herb bed should be, really, as close to the kitchen as possible! The sorrel has been hanging out there for a few weeks now, just waiting for us to figure out what to do with it. Sorrel has a fairly strong lemony taste. It’s good added to a green salad in moderate amounts, and is good in soups or with eggs.
This time I combined it with chives, also ready very early in the spring, and some fresh beet greens from the first farmers’ market of the year, to create one of the first garden-fresh dinners of the season!
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch sorrel
- 1 bunch chives
- 6 shallots
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper
- fish (we used Steelhead, a Northwestern delicacy that looks like salmon but is actually trout!)
- bed of fresh or cooked greens for serving. We used steamed beet greens but thought about spinach.
Heat the broiler and broil fish on a pan with salt and pepper, until done.
Meanwhile make the sauce. Chop sorrel, chives, and shallots. Melt butter in a pan. I found an old NPR story (I research my articles, people) that says DON’T use cast iron to cook sorrel. Apparently it turns it black and makes it taste bad! Saute shallots until softened. Add herbs, stir a couple of times, then add the cream and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Steam greens or put fresh greens on a plate. Arrange fish on greens and top with sauce. Delicious!
Here are my sorrel and chives, before picking! Like lettuce and many herbs, these will grow back after cutting. You could plant sorrel or chives in your garden now, using a plant from a greenhouse, and they will come back to your garden every year. My oregano is peeking up too, you could plant that now, as well as cilantro, parsley, fennel, sage, and thyme! All except for the cilantro are perennial and will come back next year, as long as you have a good, sunny spot. Store-bought herbs, even farmers’ market herbs, can’t match the ones growing outside your front door. If you’re only going to plant one thing this year, I recommend a few herbs.
– Katie
Blackened Salmon on a Salad
Posted by castironidaho in Recipes on April 6, 2011
We wanted to test the blackened seasoning that Paul sent us, so I prepared a blind taste test: Paul’s seasoning on one piece of salmon, and the blackened salmon concoction I usually use on the other! This recipe originally came from a magazine, and I’ve used it for many years. Both were actually great, maybe mine was a little spicier but they were pretty similar. You can try this recipe, or try a pre-made blend from a local food artist near you.
Ingredients:
- Salmon fillet
- 3 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 Tbsp. oregano
- Salt and Pepper
Mix chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Cut salmon fillet into desired size pieces and drag through spice mixture, coating on all sides. Fry all sides in cast iron skillet until blackened and until fish is cooked (it will become flaky), or cook on the grill. Use a tiny bit of oil to fry, if your pan isn’t well enough seasoned.
Serve over a green salad, or with a side of any kind of green veggies!
Our salad layer included:
- Mixed greens or spinach
- Strawberries
- Avocado
- Goat Cheese
- Almonds
So easy, and slightly fancy….enjoy!
– Katie
